1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to toothpastes in the form of a multicolored, striped strand and to a device for dispensing the strand from a container.
2. Statement of Related Art
In the field of personal hygiene and cosmetic products, ever increasing importance is being attributed not only to the corresponding ingredients, but also to an attractive presentation. Apart from pure aesthetics, which play an important part in regard to the choice of color, pack and, in many cases, the consistency of the product, there are also practical aspects to be taken into account in this regard. For example, the pleasure which children find in colors and shapes can be directed towards encouraging them to familiarize themselves, so to speak at play, with the necessities involved in cleanliness and personal hygiene. One way of encouraging children to brush their teeth regularly is to provide them with a colored, preferably multicolored, toothpaste distinguished by an attractive shape of the strand and optionally provided with an agreeable flavor.
Toothpastes with incorporated centers or stripes are known. Thus, DE-OS 19 37 001 describes toothpastes in which stripes or centers of a paste-like mass of high cleaning power are incorporated in a gel-like carrier strand. The opposite case, where transparent stripes are incorporated in a carrier strand of opaque toothpaste of high cleaning power, is described in European patent application 76 563. In both specifications, it is pointed out that the constituent pastes of the carrier strand and the stripe should have the same rheological properties. Further examples of striped toothpastes can be found in DE-OSS 16 17 907 and 24 54 136.
Striped toothpaste strands are normally produced by the two pastes of the carrier strand and the stripe being dispensed simultaneously when pressure is applied to the storage container. The desired appearance of the toothpaste strand is determined by corresponding design of the outlet opening of the storage container. Information on the filling of corresponding toothpaste tubes and on the configuration of the outlet opening of those tubes can be found, for example, in DE-PS 11 85 981 or GB-PS 813, 514.
Known striped toothpastes have a substantially circular and generally unstable strand cross-section. In addition, a diffuse transition is often formed between the carrier strand and the stripe.
This transition zone should be eliminated to enhance the aesthetic appearance of the strand. In addition, there is a need for toothpaste strands of polygonal cross-section which have an improved hold on toothbrushes. This is of particular interest when the toothbrushes are used by children. The stripes of different color may be situated at the corners of such a strand of toothpaste.
To this end, the constituent pastes of the carrier strand and the stripe should be coordinated with one another in such a way that they can be dispensed synchronously and uniformly from a container, the stripe paste being intended in particular to form the corner edges of a polygonal toothpaste strand.
In addition, there is a need for a device which enables the two coordinated phases of the toothpaste to be synchronously and uniformly dispensed.